AriSol: No More Goodbyes
by DixPixie
Summary: Too many things had changed since SGrub. Revenge had been taken, friends had grown apart, and life seriously started to suck. But Sollux never imagined what could have come of it. AradiaxSollux


For my favorite Homestuck OTP. Why couldn't it have worked out for these two? Oh, right, because Andrew Hussie loves to screw us over.

* * *

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: hi

Aradia? Why did she want to talk to me? We hadn't said two words to each other since that sweaty asshole made her into his own personal smoochbot. What did she want now?

TA: hii?

AA: i guess i sh0uld say s0mething

AA: bef0re i g0

TA: aradiia, ii am right glubbing here, liike two feet away from you.

TA: iif you want two 2ay 2omethiing two me why don't you ju2t turn two your left and 2ay iit, iit'2 bad enough that you've hardly 2aiid two lou2y word2 two me 2iince you became that 2weaty a22hole'2 2moochbot.

I smile in spite of myself. That felt good to get off my chest.

AA: i kn0w

AA: but this is hard f0r me

TA: how ii2 iit hard?

I could feel myself growing angry. Dammit, being bipolar sucks.

TA: you are a tiin can, robot2 don't have feeliing2

AA: n0 that's n0t true

Like hell it wasn't true. The only reason she kissed that sweaty bastard was because he programmed her to.

TA: ok then, what ii2 iit.

AA: s0rry ab0ut everything

AA: and all the bad luck y0uve had

AA: y0u didn't deserve it

AA: i have t0 g0 n0w

Go? What did she mean by go?

TA: what, where are you goiing?

AA: im n0t sure

Yeah Aradia, thanks, real specific.

TA: er, cool ii gue22?

AA: anyway thats it

TA: waiit

I pause for a second. This is super confusing, and it's making my head hurt and I swear the voices are getting louder. Oh Gog, why now?

TA: you mean for good, wiill ii see you agaiin?

Because I really don't want to see her go, especially when she's finally decided to start talking to me again.

AA: i d0nt kn0w that either

AA: but i guess if y0u d0

AA: pr0bably n0t with y0urs eyes

Not with my eyes? Damn, I've always hated when she gets cryptic like this.

TA: what the hell ii2 that 2upposed two mean?

AA: i think y0ull be 0k with it th0ugh

AA: O_O

AA: i wish

AA: i c0uld s0meh0w make that em0tic0n smile

AA: 0u0

AA: n0 that l00ks stupid

AA: 0h well

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

What the hell was all that about?

"Sollux." I see Aradia get up from her chair and walk the short distance over to me. Gog, she looks nothing like she used to. She's not Aradia, just a cold metallic shell using her face. I rise slowly to my feet. She almost looks like she's smiling. I find myself staring. Maybe, if I looking into those glowing crimson eyes long enough, I'll see Aradia there. She slowly walks toward me, that soothing smile still on her metal lips. What the hell is she doing?

She closes the distance between us. A few seconds pass in which we just stare at each other. Then, without so much as a warning, she wraps her arms around my shoulders and pulls me into a hug. I feel the heat rush to my face. Aradia is hugging me. Me! We haven't so much as glanced at each other ever since entering the Medium, and yet here she is, hugging me. I see Equius standing in the background, a stunned expression on his sweaty face. I would smirk if I wasn't so paralyzed with shock right now. I come to my senses slowly, realizing I should probably hug her back. I hesitantly reach around and place my hands on her metal hair. Her embrace is cold, but surprisingly don't give a damn right now. Aradia is hugging me and it brings me back to that time before everyone started to take revenge on one another and before this stupid ass game ruined our lives.

Her head rests on my shoulder. I feel her shift as she brings her lips by my ear and whispers "It wasn't your fault Sollux." Then she pulls away. I try to pull her back in. I don't want her to leave. But she's too fast and slips out of my grasp. She backs away so I can't reach her. She gives me one more sad smile. And then it begins.

Aradis gray body begins to twitch and seizure, her eyes flashing orange and spikes of electricity arching of her surface. Nepeta, who was napping in the corner, jerks awake at the sudden discharge of energy. My mind blanks out, even the voices have become silent. One thought worms its way into my think pan, _oh Gog, she's going to blow herself up._

As if on cue, Aradia's body suddenly burst into a ball of fiery orange, her appendages flying from the center. I lift my arms to shield my eyes from the intense light and feel bits of shrapnel bite into my flesh, leaving mustard yellow trails in their wake.

When the ringing in my ears dulls to a low roar, I finally pull my arms away from my face. All that is left of Aradia is a smoldering ring of ash on the floor and bits and pieces of her robotic body scattered around the lab. Equius and Nepeta lie on their backs, thrown back by the force of the blast. Everyone else look on from a safe distance, looks of shock painting their faces, all except Gamzee who is passed out on the horn pile, oblivious to the world.

I feel hot tears rise in my eyes. Her last moments on this world, and she spends them talking to me… why? Visions of the past assault my vision. Of me and Aradia, sitting on the hill outside her hive. Of me and Aradia chilling in my bedroom while I try to teach Karkat about programming because he doesn't know jack shit. Of me with my head in Aradia's lap as I fight a voices-in-my-head induced migraine. Of me, lying on my bedroom floor, trying to stave off Vriska's poisonous influence. Of waking up outside Aradia's hive, my lips coated with mind honey, and Aradia lying close by, her body covered in her own crimson blood.

And now I've lost her again. Aradia had always been there for me, the only other troll who could understand what it was like to have anguished voices scream in your head twenty-four seven. And now she's gone for good. I remove my glasses and let the mustard tears stream down my cheeks as I gaze at the spot where she had stood moments ago. I sink to my knees, suddenly unable to hold myself up any longer. My hands curl into fists on the floor and more tears fall around them. I feel Karkat's calloused hand on my shoulder. A pair of knees enter my vision and I look up to see Feferi's face peering into mine, a distressed expression on her features. She pulls me into an awkward hug, stroking my hair and shushing in my ear. I can't help but feel like a wriggler crying to their lusus. I let my head fall on her shoulder and continue to cry like said wriggler. The voices in my head cry with me.


End file.
